Joy for the Boys in Green!

17 November 2015

On a night made for heroes Jon Walters delivered the two goals which saw the Republic of Ireland book their place at EURO2016.

The Stoke City man, who made his return from suspension for the second leg of the EURO2016 play-off against Bosnia Herzegovina, opened the scoring at the Aviva Stadium from the penalty spot on the 24th minute. The referee awarded a controversial penalty after Bosnia's Ervin Zukanovic was harshly judged to have handled a Daryl Murphy cross.

On a night of endeavour, composure and determination Ireland chased down every ball and withheld a period of pressure from the visitors in the second half. However Walters duly added his second of the night with a lovely volley on the 70th minute as his effort beat former Stoke City teammate, Asmir Begovic, at the near post.

That put Ireland 3-1 up on aggregate and the fans erupted with joy - scenes that were repeated ten fold on the final whistle as the Republic of Ireland joined Northern Ireland, England and Wales in next Summer's European Championships in France.

Ireland manager, Martin O'Neill, was full of praise for his players: "I couldn't be more proud. They've been absolutely fantastic right from the start. I hold the players in the most enormous esteem. We might be short of a number of things but a lot of courage and determination and fighting to the end is things they possess in abundance."